THE CHASE. 367 



On the next page, the same learned author says : " The Cari- 

 bou travel in herds, varying from eight or ten to two or three 

 hundred, and their daily excursions are generally tovs^ards the 

 quarter from whence the wind blows. The Indians kill them 

 with the bow and arrow or gun, take them in snares, or spear 

 them in crossing rivei-s or lakes. The Esquimaux also take them 

 in traps, ingeniously formed of ice or snow. Of all the deer of 

 North America they are the most easy of approach, and are 

 slaughtered in the greatest numbers. A single family of Indians 

 will sometimes destroy two or three hundi-ed in a few weeks, and 

 in many cases they are killed for the sake of their tongues 

 alone." 



The Esquimaux trap these deer, using the reindeer moss for 

 bait. The trap is constructed of frozen snow or ice, inclosing a 

 room of sufficient dimensions to hold several deer, and over this 

 is laid a thin slab of ice, supported on wooden axles forward of 

 the centre of gravity. The top of this is only accessible bj^ away 

 prepared for the purpose, and beyond the tempting moss is laid. 

 In reaching it, the deer passes over the treacherous slab of ice, 

 which is tilted by the weight of the deer, and he is precipitated 

 into the room below, when the top, relieved of the weight, 

 resumes its horizontal position, and is ready set for another 

 victim. 



They are snared with thongs made of the skin of the animal, 

 by placing the noose in positions where the head will pass through 

 it, something in the manner described in snaring the moose, and 

 if they do not find a tree convenient to which the line may be 

 attached, they will hitch it to the middle of a loose pole, which 

 soon becomes entangled in the bushes and among the rocks, so 

 that the animal cannot escape to any great distance. 



Great numbers are captured by the Indians by driving them 

 into pens or inclosures made of bushes, and placed in the course 

 of some well beaten path, where a narrow gateway is left, from 

 either side of which a diverging line of bushes or piles of stone, 

 perhaps one hundred feet apart, are placed. Tliese may extend 

 a mile or two, and at their extremities be far apart. A watch is 

 kept from some high point of observation, and when a herd of 

 deer is observed approaching, the whole family, men, women, and 

 children, quietly skulk around them, and drive them within the 

 converging lines of objects which, in their stupidity and defective 

 eyesight, they regard as impassable barriers, and so rush straight 

 forward upon the path into the inclosure, in which is a labyrinth 



